Kevin MacPhee Books His First WSOP Bracelet Win in the $5,000 Turbo for $490,800
In what was his fourth World Series of Poker final table, second in 2015, Idaho's Kevin MacPhee captured his first WSOP gold bracelet Sunday night, winning Event #56: $5,000 Turbo No-Limit Hold'em.
"Winning a bracelet has always been a big goal for me since I started coming and playing World Series events," he said. "I have the EPT title (Berlin 2010), so the bracelet is another feather in the cap so to speak, another part of the Triple Crown, and I'm pretty happy to finally ship one."
The last two final table appearances for MacPhee had ended in misery. He got it in good in Event #20: $1,500 No Limit Hold'em earlier this year and in the 2014 WSOP $5,000 No Limit Hold'em last year, but could only watch as his opponents found a way to suck out and send him to the rail short of WSOP glory.
This time around he simply ran better, as third-place finisher Pascal Theodosiadis folded queens in a spot where he could have knocked both MacPhee and runner-up Igor Yaroshevskyy out and booked a win, then he picked up kings versus Theodosiadis' ace-king in what would have to be considered a cooler three handed to send him to the rail and take an insurmountable lead into heads-up play.
"You've just got to keep putting yourself in the spot to get lucky," said MacPhee, who collected a $490,800 first-place prize with the win. "It has been five years since I won the EPT, but I've had some big results over this past year. This is pretty validating, but I've kind of been there and done that. I'm experienced and I kind of figured eventually with good grinding and proper execution, the bracelet would come. I'm really happy it did."
MacPhee also said the experience he gained playing Turbo events online, and at the 60 different festivals he has attended on the PokerStars European Poker Tour, certainly helped make this event a comfortable one for him from start to finish.
"I'm pretty used to the format," he said. "I've played a lot of turbos online. I use my push fold calculators very methodically when I play online and I have it all in my head anyway. I know the push fold stuff pretty well."
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Hometown | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kevin MacPhee | Coeur D Alene, ID | $490,800 |
| 2 | Igor Yaroshevskyy | Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine | $303,767 |
| 3 | Pascal Theodosiadis | New York, NY | $201,878 |
| 4 | Eric Sfez | Neuilly Sur Seine, France | $149,814 |
| 5 | Scott Vener | Los Angeles, CA | $112,429 |
| 6 | Tristan Wade | Boynton Beach, FL | $85,202 |
| 7 | Hung Tran | San Jose, CA | $65,144 |
| 8 | Joshua Field | Villa Park, CA | $50,208 |
| 9 | Martin Kozlov | Lysterfield, Australia | $38,984 |
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